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by Queen Of Dales
Summary: Being rewritten. On hiatus. SI/OC/Insert
1. Intro: Death

**0**

 _My death went a little like this._

 _I was walking home alone when I knew I shouldn't be. There was a reason I never let my friends go home by themselves after dark. I was the safe one, the cautious one. The_ paranoid _one who didn't like walking home alone. I would at minimum be on the phone with someone if I didn't have a body with me._

 _Except that night._

 _I was tired. I had spent all day in the library reworking the thesis of my research paper. My mind was consumed with a conclusion which was half-assed at best, but would have to do and the beginnings of a migraine starting to squeeze behind my eyes. I didn't care about safety by that point. I was too tired and grumpy to talk to anyone at one in the morning over a five minute walk down a well lit street._

 _I steeled myself for the chill filing away another mental reminder to by a thick coat, and out I went. I noted that the Pot Circle had decided to settle at the side of the library, tucked into a quiet alcove tonight and crossed the street to the side of the road bordering the Ravine. The Pot Circle was basically harmless, the worst they'd ever done was give out questionably "organic" brownies. I just didn't want to deal with the smell or people in general anymore than I had to._

 _It was a quiet chilly evening and there was something soothing about walking beside the silent greenery of the Ravine, passing below the hanging trees and looking down the sloping green dip to where the amphitheater settled in the middle. It was empty tonight, much like most of our "suitcase campus" on Thursday nights._

 _I left the Pot Circle behind quickly reaching the bend in the sidewalk the drifted off towards downtown._

 _My dorm was straight passed the bend on the other side of the road and I ducked impatiently around a parked car, not wanting to wait to reach the crosswalk._

 _I rammed right into someone else._

 _I would have fallen on my face if he hadn't grabbed me. I wasn't very big, a little under 5'2" and the man I rammed into was had a good foot and a good amount of poundage on me. I looked up a thank you on my lips and went still feeling awkward at the smiling face I found. He had dark eyes, I couldn't tell the color and I noticed he was dressed pretty snazzy, clean cut with a nice shirt tucked in and a nice jacket. He looked like one of the frat brothers on a business casual day. His dirty blond hair was neatly part and combed too. All in all he looked pretty put together and harmless despite his size._

 _His smile made my skin crawl in a familiar sort of warning._

 _I tried to step back to get out of his personal bubble and found his hands no longer barely noticeable weights, but pressing firmly down. Alarm bells went off instantly and I threw myself down and back like I'd been taught to._

 _I almost got away. He clearly hadn't expected it, but before I could be out of range he managed to get a hold on my backpack and jerk me back. Panic was starting to set in and I opened my mouth to scream attempting to duck my chin to my chest before he could get an arm around my throat. He skipped that entirely and the hand not holding my backpack grabbed the bottom half of my face smothering the "No! Help!". His hand was huge and he pulled me back to the sidewalk and forward to one of the cars I'd been attempting to pass._

" _It isn't nice to lie." he told me and his voice was smooth, pleasant, cheerful,_ familiar. _I'd last heard it a little over a year before telling me about where he was going to take me when he found me._

" _You said it wasn't you." he continued opening the door and ignoring my flailing as he pushed the both of us into the back of the car using his weight to press me down._

 _He kept talking, but I couldn't focus on the words anymore. Tears of terror started to burn in my eyes and my heart hammered. I needed to escape. I needed to scream. I needed help._ God somebody help me! Notice, come on! _Acting on instinct I opened my mouth feeling his palm against my lips and dug my teeth into the flesh, tearing it and tasting a familiar copper. He gave a strangled scream and tried to pull away but I dug in harder, not thinking clearly or at all anymore._

 _Then his weight lighted and something hard hit the back of my head making me black out for the first time in my life._

 _I didn't wake up. Which I was almost grateful for. Going through_ that _again was too painful to contemplate._

 _Or rather I did wake up. Just not in the same place I'd left. I was always fond of self-insert fanfics as an indulgence, because a surprising amount were well written and interesting. I just didn't expect to_ live _one._


	2. Intro: Kyuubi

**1**

Sora didn't understand exactly what was going on. He knew Aunt Minami had been getting really fat lately, though Mother said he wasn't allowed to mention it and it was because of the baby. He didn't really understand how the baby, his new little cousin, was causing Aunt Minami to be fat unless she'd _eaten_ his new cousin. He wrinkled his nose at the thought. He'd been waiting for _ages_ for the baby to finally get her and couldn't understand why it took so long for Aunt Minami and Uncle Natsu to go pick the baby up. He did know that when Aunt Minami started screaming and grabbing her stomach while visiting had been some signal that it was time to get the baby though.

He just didn't know why they came to the hospital when the kids in his class had clearly told him that you grew babies in a cabbage patch. Maybe they had to help Aunt Minami with her stomach ache before the baby could be born? Sora huffed.

Adults were so confusing and bad at talking about things, the five year old decided settling back into the chair Mother had left him in before rushing off with Aunt Minami. Sora looked around curious and more than a little bored. He'd only been to the hospital once when he'd hurt his arm playing. He'd gotten to see a nice medic-nin who'd fixed him with a "jutsu".

Sora didn't quite understand it, but he knew that medic-nin were able to fix hurts and were clearly superheroes. He'd asked Mother if he could be one when he grew up and she'd gotten upset. She'd told him that they were civilians and they'd been that way since the beginning. Then she'd started talking about the family history and Sora had stopped listening too sad about the fact that this was yet another thing he wasn't allowed to do as a "Chigusa of the First Families of Konohagakure". Being a Chigusa wasn't very fun most of the time and Sora wished he could be a shinobi like some of his classmates said they were going to be.

If he was already at the hospital his Mother couldn't stop him from just seeing some jutsu while the medic-nin work like she stopped him from going to Young Shinobi Competitions. Happy with this plan Sora got up quickly, first making sure his Mother wasn't anywhere in sight, and ducked down the hallway after a nurse.

He wasn't very good at reading yet, so he couldn't really understand all of the signs, but he'd been watching people heading back this way the entire time. There had to be at least one medic-nin somewhere! Father said the hospital was crawling with them! Creeping along carefully, Sora noticed one of the doors said something he did recognize. _Chigusa_ , that was his name and he did know the characters for that. Sora hesitated for a few minutes, but decided to go in.

It was empty. Or at least he thought so at first. Then he saw the tiny bed beside the big one and that the sheets were moving. His first thought was to run, but then her recognizes Aunt Minami's light blue hair and relaxed. He took a step forward and then another when he realized that Aunt Minami was _tiny again_! She was also asleep and really pale.

Sora didn't understand until the little bed started moving. He went passed Aunt Minami to peek inside and found a baby. One with dark blue hair kind of like Aunt Minami's. Definitely confused now Sora peered down at the baby and then back to Aunt Minami considering. Maybe the baby really had been making his aunt fat? Since she was small again does that mean that the baby was his little cousin?

Sora turned back and realized that the baby was awake and looking up at him big yellow eyes. Its face did something funny, scrunching up and its mouth opening. Sora thought it looked kind of sad, so he smiled at it reaching forward to pat the baby's cheek. The baby's eyes went really big at that and Sora at just looked at it smiling.

"Hello baby!" Sora greeted remembering his manners belatedly.

"I'm your big cousin Chigusa Sora. I hope you get big soon so we can play. You're too tiny right now to do anything fun with." He informed the baby, nodding to himself and remembering all his Mother's lectures about how he had to be careful with the baby when it was born.

The baby starred even harder at that its mouth opening like it was going to talk. Sora was a little disappointed by that, but figured he could talk enough to make up for the baby. Mother said he talked enough for three people.

"What are you doing?"

Sora jumped and almost fell off the little bed. In the bed the baby jerked too looking up at Sora and around him for the other voice. Sora was better at finding it and looked up to see a frowning woman wearing a headband. A medic-nin! Sora grinned. He found a medic-nin and his little cousin!

"I'm talkin' to my baby cousin." Sora informed her proudly and remembered what he wanted the next second. "Can you do a jutsu?"

The woman looked as big eyed as the baby, but eventually shook her head and stepped beside him. "Yes, I can. You must be Sora-kun. Chigusa-san said that you'd come with Minami-san and little Hime-chan."

Sora was about to ask who was "Hime", but then the medic-nin's hand went green and she smiled at him saying "watch". Sora went still and did, watching as she slowly moved her glowing hand around the baby's body making it squirm. Finally, the medic-nin stopped and turned to look back at Sora.

"What I just did is a Diagnostic Jutsu. It checks Hime-chan for any issues we may have missed and makes sure she's healthy." the medic-nin explained gently and Sora made the connection.

"The baby's Hime!" he said excitedly and turned back to his little cousin. His little _girl_ cousin.

The medic-nin laughed. "Orihime." she corrected gently. "Minami-san named her Orihime Chigusa."

Sora nodded focusing on Orihime's scrunched up little face. "Nice to meet you Orihime-chan!"

Something strange went over Orihime's face making her clench it up and then relax it and then look towards the medic-nin. After looking up at her for a few more minutes the baby's lip started shaking and then without warning she started crying.

* * *

Orihime wiggled in vain towards the side of her crib hating her life and cursing whoever had the sick idea to let her remember her _past_ life and stick her in _fucking Naruto_. When she reached the side she used her now chubby once more hands to grip the bars and pull again. It was difficult, but she slowly managed to haul herself to her fit. It gave her a satisfied sort of triumph before she remembered that she had already learned how to walk once and did not need this in her life.

Growling to herself she peered around the dark room. Apparently her sleeping schedule (i.e. no sleep) from college life had carried over to her infancy leaving her irritable and fussy. Which her second parents, whose names escaped her, to more than a few sleepless nights when she felt spiteful enough early on to take it out on them. Eventually though she'd gotten over herself enough to let the young couple sleep unless she really needed something and now spent sleepless nights working on acquiring the ability to walk and talk.

Which was not going well. She was about ten months now and was barely stumbling along on her legs with assistance. Mastering Japanese wasn't going much better. Her only experience with it in her last life was anime and manga and one intro class she'd taken her freshman year. Understanding it was going decently, emersion really did do wonders, but the speaking part was giving her trouble. She had never felt so awkward with her tongue and that included trying to learn to roll it during Spanish.

Consonants were a bitch.

Honestly, she was a little thankful for the distraction her frustrations allowed her, most of being an infant was endlessly boring hours and trying desperately not to think of what she'd lost. The lack of entertainment at her fingertips was something hard to get used to. She was used to being able to grab a book if she was bored. To being able to have the internet on her phone in an instant. To being able to watch shows or movie easily and instantly. The sudden cutoff with technology and entertainment was leaving her reeling. There was only so much day dreaming she could do before it got old and tended to reminiscing and regret. She also had no intention of spending countless hours planning and panicking over her new situation like she'd done when she'd first arrived. She didn't need the stress and had literal years to figure things out when she had new and relevant information present. The only other option she had was sleeping. Which she found herself doing more and more often.

Hibernation was becoming really appealing if only for how it would make time pass.

Occasionally she'd be able to entertain herself with watching the shinobi jump across roofs through her window, but tonight there wasn't any active. Things were quiet and looking to be pretty boring.

And then the sky exploded.

For a split second it was daylight and the house shook with it. Then houses she could always see in the distance started to disappear, destroyed in an instant. The roar of the explosion came a moment after the light making her lose my grip and fall in shock. She could hear the sleepy panic starting in the house, but she was too busy watching the destruction through her window.

 _The village was under attack_.

The Kyuubi was huge, its tails writhing angrily around it as it began its infamous not of destruction. She knew the village would survive it and that somewhere far from her a child was about to be orphaned and become the scapegoat to all the lives lost that day. All she could focus on was how angry and scared she was.

Orihime focused on the anger to belay the fear somewhat though. She hadn't even been alive a year and she was probably going to die tonight. The house was too close. She couldn't see how they could escape with something like that before her. Orihime watched numbly as the bijuu ball began to expand in the mouth of the beast.

Then her mother grabbed her and they were running.

She couldn't see anything, her face was pressed too tightly to the woman's shaking chest. But everything was loud and real outside her bedroom. There were screams and the roaring of the Kyuubi close by and she was certain she would die. She felt numb to it and was reminded of the time the pipeline had exploded in her past life.

The sky had lit up and there had been a huge roar. She'd been able to see the plume of fire from miles away and saw the way the windows had rattled in the house. She remembered how cold it was and the fear and confusion about what was going on. She'd hurried to get dressed with the rest of her family ready to evacuate and then it had started snowing, ash and snowflakes. It had covered everything so quickly and it had felt like something out of an apocalypse movie.

This felt like the mirror of that. It was warm instead of cold, much too warm for October, and there was a certainty to what was going on this time. But the fear and the panic and the desire to curl up and hide was the same.

She could feel the hate rolling off the Kyuubi like needles dragging against her skin. The screams surrounding them and the shouting voices didn't help the sensation making it worse. She wished she could see. Everything would make a little more sense if she could at least see it coming.

Then she heard the sound of the bijuu ball being released and the thunder of the destruction in its path.

And she didn't die.

Moments later she heard a distant explosion that signalled Minato had teleported it away.

Orihime realized, startled, that she might actually live.

The long run and arrival at the evacuation center only reinforced it. It was smothering and she was surrounded by crying children and panicked villagers. The air was heavy and the sounds of fighting could be easily heard. But she knew it was safe. She felt dazed knowing the Kyuubi wouldn't get back into the center now that it had been taken away. Soon enough it would be sealed and the night would end. She wasn't going to die.

She wished she could say things got better from there.

It didn't.


	3. Intro: Hell Spawn

**2**

Orihime almost didn't become a shinobi. It wasn't because she was getting cold feet or wanted to remain a civilian. God, knew she wanted to remain a civilian, but she was more terrified of not having the ability to defend herself at a crucial moment. She only needed a few short years out in the field as a genin to distinguish herself and pass the Chunin Exams and it was back to the Academy to safely teach she would go. Obviously she'd have to avoid _those_ Chunin Exams, but all in all she felt she'd gotten a solid plan together for her life.

Natsu and Minami did not agree.

She'd known her family didn't have any shinobi. She did. She just didn't realize it wasn't just because of personal preference until she'd first mentioned something about it to Minami. No, her family _hated_ shinobi.

Or rather they _respected_ shinobi and believed in the necessity. _Outside_ the family.

The Chigusa, Minami had very proudly informed her, were an ancient family of civilians. First amongst those who'd been brave enough to join the Senjus and Uchihas' "Experiment". As the a member of the First families, along with those like the Sarutobi and Ino-Shika-Cho Clans, they had a certain dignity to maintain. The Chigusa and the other six founding civilian clans were to the civilians as the Noble Four were to the shinobi. Their men were men of industry and intelligence, never shinobi. Their women were delicate and graceful, fully able to support the men from behind. Women were most definitely not shinobi.

That made Orihime realize that joining the Academy would not be quite so easy is it appeared. Sora gave her a similar and much grimmer confirmation of this statement. The nine year old had looked defeated as he spoke, a sharp contrast from his usual appearance of a cheerful, lazy charmer. He told her he'd wanted to be a medic-nin and the subsequent fallout in the family over the ambition. If the family had been utterly horrified at the thought of Sora becoming a _medic-nin_ , then Orihime as the eldest daughter of the eldest daughter and heiress apparent until a boy was born was doomed.

Well, at least Sora was convinced she was.

In her last life Orihime had usually been a bit passive when it came to obstacles. She sometimes found it a bit relieving to give up because the source of her stress was gone. Conflict with actual people not just random situations was even worse. It freaked her out enough that she had literally become ill at the thought of confronting her suitemates about passive-aggressive post-it notes that kept appearing everywhere. But like in every aspect of her life she was a bit of a contradiction in that for all her passiveness when she did find something she couldn't back out of she got shit done. She figured out a way and finished it, even if she was shaking the entire time and had to walk because she didn't have a car. Sure she was little bruised and sore in the feet, but she could revel in the fact she'd done what she'd set out to. Orihime could even confront someone when absolutely necessary, though it usually had to involve someone else. But she could manage it for herself. Sometimes.

Now, she decided after hearing Sora's story, now would be one of those times.

She offered her second parents an out. Orihime tried logic, she tried emotions, and she tried begging. She really did try everything she could think of to convince them to let her join without putting in desperate measures. Orihime was a fan of peace and quiet in the household and did not like disturbing it with disobedience. The most rebellious she'd ever really gotten in her past life was staying up late to finish a book and ignoring the rules about the bathroom light. Her default setting was obedience. But Orihime did recognize there were other ways to get what you wanted.

So, she did something that she'd never done in her last life and was a little embarrassed about, even if it was oddly fun at times, to do in this one.

She acted like a complete and utter brat.

Orihime pitched the awfulest of hissy fits throwing herself on the ground, screaming at her parents, and refusing to obey them even on the simplest thing. she would purposefully do the opposite. She made it a point to act up in public and start bawling loudly timing it to make her parents scoldings look extreme. She talked constantly about how cool shinobi were and how much she wanted to be a shinobi to help protect the village. When Minami snapped one day and told her, screamed really, that no daughter of hers would ever be a shinobi in the middle of the village in front of everyone she'd thought she'd thought she'd failed.

Then came the fallout of it. Apparently in shinobi villages it didn't due to seem like you thought your protectors were beneath your notice. The shops had a significant drop in shinobi patronage and the civilian families of shinobi. One of the business was closely tied in with transporting metal for shinobi weaponsmiths and suddenly those shops were looking elsewhere. Not everyone was jumping ship, but it was enough for the family to begin getting concerned.

The family's reputation and her second parents' sanity was fraying at with her going from obedient and quiet to a ferocious hell spawn.

Truthfully speaking if they'd had any experience with children and hadn't been dealing with several days of little to no sleep thanks to Orihime's campaign to make their lives hell they would have never agreed to Aunt Hanako's proposal. Aunt Hanako was of the opinion that as a usually quiet, docile individual Orihime wouldn't survive the "barbaric training" at the Academy for long and they just needed to give in for now and let her get passed the phase. Apparently Aunt Hanako noticed the passive nature and didn't think Orihime could stick it out. Especially considering the extra requirements she suggested.

Orihime was determined to prove otherwise.

The deal stated that Orihime would join the Academy at eight and could train to become a kunoichi. But the second her scores fell below average in any area she would have to quit. And on top of her Academy education she would be receiving a formal "proper" education from a tutor of Aunt Hanako's choice.

Orihime took the deal and her parents enjoyed peace once more.

Those requirements weren't any more difficult than what she'd had to do to get into her fraternity in her past life. It wouldn't be that bad.

* * *

Her tutor was a beautiful woman. She was graceful and always incredibly well put together never wearing anything but full elegant kimonos. She had long silk black hair she wore in high looping styles, large startlingly lovely blue-grey eyes, and her pale skin seemed to glow smooth and unblemished. A very tiny woman, the tutor spoke in a soft tone with a strangely husky voice that was just as attractive as the rest of her. It was deep, but still feminine. Closer to sexy than manly. She moved with careful smooth movements despite the bulk of her formal clothes and looked like a dancer.

Her name was Chigusa Nadeshiko, the wife of Aunt Hanako's brother-in-law, and everyone seemed to regard her and her careless elegance with a breathless awe. As Aunt Hanako's husband was a more distant cousin from a branch of the Chigusa family though that still made Nadeshiko a cousin, though a very distant one to Orihime herself.

When Nadeshiko first introduced herself she was resplendent in one of her more understated kimonos of dark red with patterns of orange and yellow leaves in it a orange under kimono visible at the collar. She followed behind Aunt Hanako who looked uncharacteristically flustered and looked more like a "hime" than Orihime ever did.

Orihime saw the kimono first. It had to be expensive made entirely of silk with skilled embroidery. It was different from prettily patterned cotton ones that was casual wear in her family. Even the nice ones Minami and Aunt Hanako wore on special occasions weren't so _extravagant._ Then she saw the woman in the kimono, a young one who had to be in her early to mid-twenties, and her mind kind of fizzled out.

She one of the most gorgeous people she'd seen in either life. Orihime had never been very good with beautiful people and couldn't stop staring, no doubt making an ass out of herself. But _damn_. The stranger who stood patiently behind Aunt Hanako wasn't hot. She was flat out beautiful. More the _Girl with a Pearl Earring_ than the Victoria Secrets Christmas Show.

Orihime was only shocked out of her daze when her aunt cleared her throat giving the now six year old a faux sweet smile that she loathed.

"Now Hime-chan," Aunt Hanako said in a voice that was equally parts pleasant and grating on Orihime. "I know we told you that your tutor wouldn't arrive until your started the Academy."

Aunt Hanako paused for a moment to hide a quick grimace. Her aunt had made it damn clear what she thought of Orihime's "dream" and made sure to express her disdain for it at every opportunity. Usually in subtle but mean spirited barbs about Orihime's chances in the hopes that she would "cease this foolishness already".

Aunt Hanako was kind of an asshole. And not even the sweet/asshole hybrid that Orihime's family had consisted of in her first life.

Aunt Hanako very pointedly brightened. " _But_ Nadeshiko-san has arrived early from the capital and agreed to start teaching you early! Isn't that wonderful Hime-chan?"

Orihime didn't immediately answered looking at the silent figure peacefully waiting for them to finish their conversation. The tiny woman was a good few inches shorter than her aunt and smiled when she made eye contact with Orihime. Nadeshiko didn't look that bad.

 _Besides_ , Orihime thought to herself with a bit of wistfulness, _I'll get to read again after she teaches me._ Reading lessons had been a painful sacrifice during her campaign to get into the Academy. Having been more than a little fond of books in both lives Orihime was eager to have enough of a grasp on the language to read a real book again.

"Okay." Orihime agreed and at Hanako's scolding look, corrected to a more formal response. "Yes, Hanako-Oba-san. Thank you for coming Nadeshiko-san."

"Sensei," a husky voice corrected quietly.

"Nadeshiko-sensei." Orihime allowed reminded of her Japanese teacher from her first life, 'Noriko-sensei' had also been a small beautiful woman. Maybe Nadeshiko would be similarly kind as her?

Both women smiled at that.

* * *

Orihime was wrong. She was so very wrong. Not only was nothing like Noriko. Nadeshiko wasn't just bad. She was _Satan_.

She eased into it too, luring Orihime into a false sense of security. It had begun with simple expected things. Ones that Orihime actually found interesting. Improving her reading, introducing her to formal manners, poetry. The reading she took to easily enough and was more than willing to practice. The poetry, while never being her favorite thing, was something that was at least under her umbrella of interests and some of it she actually found she enjoyed. The manners weren't to big a deal. Her parents had raised her polite in her last life and apparently there were some similarities in "Southern sensibilities" and the Japanese like ones of Naruto. At least in things that weren't fit for public discussion. For the rest of it she considered it interesting from the point of view of cultural comparisons. What can Orihime say she was kind of a nerd about learning and she'd always found other cultures interesting.

These lessons the two of them went through with a relaxed air and the ever present smile of Nadeshiko.

Then things started to get more _intense_. Nadeshiko started to insist that Orihime sit _seiza_ during their lessons in order to get her used to the position. It wasn't too awful the first few minutes, but then she started to lose circulation and the pins and needles feeling started to come up. Orihime had the bright idea to move into a cross-legged position instead as Nadeshiko was distracted with reciting the new poems Orihime would be learning that week.

Nadeshiko, it turned out was not as distracted as Orihime thought, and stopped speaking the moment Orihime shifted.

"What are you doing Orihime-chan?" the woman questioned lightly, but something about the tone made Orihime wary. That sounded too much like her first mother when she'd asked "Are your chores done?" when it was pretty obvious that she and her siblings had not done them that day and were in fact doing something else instead.

It was a too calm tone that never boded well.

"My legs hurt, Sensei." Orihime offered and received a small smile and nod in return.

"And you decided to move out of seiza to stop the pain?" Nadeshiko asked.

Orihime nodded.

"Without asking?"

Another nod.

"Despite my telling you to remain in the position until I said otherwise?"

Orihime nodded, stiff and ready for punishment. Those type of leading questions meant something was about to happen. No matter how firmly in place Nadeshiko's smile stayed. Orihime's mind went instantly to her childhood and picking out her own switch from outside for a spanking after pushing her little brother. The Naruto-world seemed like the kind to be okay with corporal punishment. Orihime had never been punished for doing something that was reasonable. Her legs and back hurt. It made sense for a six year old not to be used to such formality.

To her surprise nothing happened other than another nod. Nadeshiko continued the lesson as if nothing had happened and Orihime relaxed shifting fully into the cross-legged position she'd wanted. Nadeshiko told her goodbye that evening, polite as ever, but left with a cryptic message about it being time to start something new tomorrow.

Thinking nothing of it, Orihime had gone to bed that night relaxed and confident that the lessons that Aunt Hanako had forced on her weren't that bad.

When she'd arrived in the lesson room the next day it had seemed normal enough. The lesson room was rather traditional looking with sliding doors and tatami mats, one set of the doors lead to the inner courtyard of the house and Nadeshiko often lift it open for the view of the garden Minami was particular proud of.

Today, Nadeshiko was standing in the open doors wearing a mostly white kimono with a river of light blue and silver seeming to literally flow across the silk, colorful orange koi following the stream. The obi was dark blue with a small bit of orange. Her dark blue collar stood out against her fair skin. She looked beautiful of course, but the outfit made her eyes pop into pure silver. There was one interesting addition though. She had what looked to be a folded fan tucked carefully into the obi.

"Nadeshiko-sensei," Orihime greeted, bowing like she'd been instructed.

"Orihime-chan," Nadeshiko returned and gestured to a soft pillow on the floor.

Orihime realized that she was meant to sit seiza yet again. She was touched by the thoughtfulness of the pillow. Though she doubted it would help as yeah her knees hurt, but keeping the position was the worst part of it and the legs going numb as they now doubt would. Settling down, Orihime looked up at Nadeshiko, who was smiling as always, waitin for further instructions.

"Today we will temporarily be sitting aside etiquette and arts. I will helping you with a very important lesson that my Onee-san helped me learn in my younger years."

It was said in the same light tone as everything, but something about the careful way she was observing Orihime, made her unnerved. Especially when Nadeshiko carefully removed her fan, longer than Orihime had expected, from her obi and began to walk around were Orihime set with her casual grace that seemed more predatory than dance like now.

"Will need to work on your posture first." Nadeshiko said ominously from her position behind Orihime. Orihime squirmed uncomfortably not enjoying the woman being out of her sight and tried to turn her head to look at her.

 _Smack._ Her head was met with a sharp strike from the fan for the movement.

"Face front." Nadeshiko ordered fan giving a warning tap against Orihime's cheek until she obeyed.

Stunned Orihime tried to work through the pounding in her head. That had been too hard for a simple wooden fan. It had to have been metal or something. Orihime remembered a mention of iron folding fans used as weapons. She could have had a concussion. The pounding though distracted her from her anger and it made her grit her teeth and slump over a little.

 _Smack_.

"Straighten up." Nadeshiko ordered.

Orihime instantly regretted ever thinking something nice about her.

It continued like that for hours, any shifting or unsteady posture being punished with a shift smack. No more to the head thankfully, instead Nadeshiko focused on the upper arms, thighs, and lower back. Stinging but not life threatening. By the end of it Orihime had tear running down her face from the burning in her muscles, the smacks, and the anger she felt over the harsh lesson. The pain of getting out of it was even worse than getting into it and Nadeshiko watched unsympathetic at the crying.

"We will continue this tomorrow. Goodbye Orihime-chan." Nadeshiko informed her as Minami, not paying any mind to the tears on her daughter's face, forced her to continue the tradition of formal goodbyes.

Minami, who washed off Orihime's tears and checked her bruises, didn't seem all that upset or concerned. Minami declared it was nothing life threatening after carefully poking at her head and sent her to get ready for supper without so much as a hug. Instead she paused to look at Orihime careful and expectant. The implication that she could always give up the Academy and end the lessons was clear.

Instead Orihime straightened and pursed her lips. Minami sighed and waved her off towards her room.

* * *

Orihime refused to cry in her lessons after that. They became steadily harder over the next few weeks. The _seiza_ hell lasted about a month until she started to get the hang of it. then she was required to hold the position whenever possible in the lessons, which she did with a spiteful determination. The things they covered quickly began to increase as well. She learned songs, calligraphy, dances, tea ceremony, and three instruments. Every couple of months a new topic was added and inforced with Nadeshiko's iron control. It became more and more clear that her "sensei" required perfection and any imperfections or corrections were swift and draconian. The only lessons she mostly got through without corrections were literature and flower arrangement thanks to her interest in both in her past life.

The more "feminine arts" weren't the only thing Nadeshiko began to introduce though. Along with her posture lessons and tea ceremonies, were discussions on how to charm people and adapt in social situations. things that were useful for a kunoichi. Then her more "book smart" lessons on literature and poetry were combined with lessons on geography, history, and even smatterings of business.

Nadeshiko was a merciless, perfectionist who clearly disliked Orihime. Something that was obvious to her now that she had began to be able to see under the woman's smiling mask. But she was intelligent, well-read, and socially aware in a way that Orihime admired for all her dislike of her.

Orihime had been an awkward duck under the best of circumstances in her lives. She had a love-hate situation with people and social interactions in general. It was always a coin flip on whether or not she'd be the most awkward person in the room or reasonably personable. Nadeshiko though was able to charm and navigate with the same ease as breathing. Orihime was always willing to admit the positive qualities when the presented themselves in people she disliked. They weren't going to stop her from disliking them and being honest about people was a much better way to live in her opinion.

The only concession that ever seemed to be made about her lessons was the sudden disappearance of the fan after about two weeks of bruises and its replacement with a slender willow branch. It was whippy and painful, but she was much less likely to get a head wound then.

Unfortunately she and the switch were rather well acquainted. Orihime discovered that alone as she was now with now distant parents that the fear of disappointing her previous wants that kept her mouth in check in her last life did not hold it back in this one. Especially when it came to Nadeshiko.

Okay, so the occasional slips into sarcasm and snippy comments might be part of what fuelled the woman's dislike. She was particularly sensitive to comments about her appearance. It was something Orihime would normally have overlooked. She was someone who tried her best not to pick at people's buttons despite how interesting it was to uncover them. But Nadeshiko's social training had made them a little more easier to pick out and the woman's behavior made it impossible to resist.

True, her words were met with similarly sharp ones from her sensei, but Orihime was not a child who could be beaten down and she'd fought for her meager self-esteem tooth and nail and she'd be damned if she let it be destroyed. So they settled into an uneven antagonistic relationship that ended in more than a few switchings, Orihime grudgingly learning, and one very memorable occasions that Orihime liked to pick over of Nadeshiko losing her cool and her face in front of the family. The woman had quickly gained it back and it had been dismissed easily as it was Orihime she was dealing with who had become dubbed as the strange "problem child" of the family.

Orihime didn't care though. Minami, Natsu, and Hanako weren't really family after all. The closest who came to that was Sora and he was more like a distant older cousin than immediate family. She couldn't wait to start the Academy and rub her career in all their faces.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE:** I want to firstly thank everyone for reading this and favoriting and following. This chapter was a bit of set up and time skip. these first few chapters are a little fast, but I've decided not to spend chapter after chapter on her childhood and it gives an ides of her family life. Reviews are love!

 _Sydney Jane Dale:_ The _Bleach_ reference was actually totally unintentional. I didn't know Orihime's big brother's name. I actually picked the name because of the story of Orihime and Tanabata. Sora came about as a name because my friends were talking about Kingdom of Hearts while I was writing. Thanks for your reviews!


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